Taxidermist sentenced for importing skulls of endangered species

AN ‘amateur academic’ with a
lifelong interest in taxidermy has been
given a suspended prison sentence
for illegally importing the skulls of
endangered species.

Alan Dudley was given the 50-week
suspended term after admitting six
charges relating to buying and
offering for sale the skulls of prohibited
species including a penguin, a
marmoset, a turtle and a monkey.

Alan Dudley received a 50-week suspended jail term after admitting six charges related to buying and offering for sale the skulls of endangered species, including a turtle and a monkey

A seventh related charge was struck
from the record. The 52-year-old was
also ordered to be electronically
tagged, given a curfew of 7pm-5.30am, and told to pay a £1,000 fine
plus £1,500 costs
Dudley did not act for commercial
gain but had ‘a deep and serious
interest in natural history’, Coventry
Crown Court heard.

When his home was searched in
March 2008, police found a room
lined with display cases of animal
skulls.

Most of the collection was
lawfully held, but some of the skulls were
found to have been bought without
the necessary trading licence to
trade in endangered species.

Timothy Green, defending, said his
client had an arrangement with
several zoos and academic institutions
to ‘clean up’ the carcasses of dead
animals and hand back the
skeletons.
‘For some it might even be the stuff
of nightmares, a room full of skulls,
but for him it has been a very sincere
and earnestly pursued interest,’

Mr
Green added.
Judge Peter Ross, who described
Dudley as an ‘amateur academic’,
said: ‘Yours is a case where academic
zeal has crossed the line into
unlawful obsession.’

Dudley, of Keresley in Coventry, was
convicted after an investigation led
by West Midlands Police, in
partnership with the National Wildlife Crime
Unit and UK Border Agency.

'Amateur academic' Dudley had a room in his house dedicated to his collection of animal skulls which lined the walls in display cases